Field commander khattab. Basayev and Khattab - in the public domain

Emir ibn Al Khattab (according to various versions of Hottab, Khattab, Khettab), he is also "Ahmed one-armed", he is also "Black Arab", born around 1963, height 176 - 178 cm, native and citizen of Jordan. Densely built, swarthy, wears a beard, long curly hair, 1-2 phalanges are missing on all fingers of the right hand (according to other sources, it has only two fingers on the right hand, while one phalanx is missing on the index), currently resides in the village of Vedeno.

Khattab comes from a wealthy family, has seven brothers and many relatives. One of the sisters lives in the USA (state of New Jersey), where she allegedly runs a gun shop.

In an interview with the Groznensky Rabochiy newspaper, he said that he was from Arabia, his parents were alive, he had seven brothers and many relatives. He dreamed of studying in the USA and becoming a physicist or mathematician, but more than nine years ago he went to fight in Afghanistan, then in Tajikistan, and a little later - in Chechnya. The reason for his appearance in the Caucasus, Khattab called "the invasion of Russian infidels and the Jihad caused by this invasion."

He has several wives, one of whom is a native of the Shali settlement. Another wife, a Dargin by nationality, a native of the village of Kadar, Buynaksky district of the Republic of Dagestan. Setting data and place of residence of other family ties are unknown.
Khattab and his family permanently reside in the village of Vedeno on Aslambek Sheripov Street in house 1. There are always 2-3 guards from among foreign mercenaries in the courtyard of the house.

Major of the Armed Forces of the CRI. He was awarded the highest military awards of Chechnya: two orders of "Honor of the Nation" and the gold medal "Valiant Warrior". Since 1988, he took an active part in the hostilities against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan, then fought in Tajikistan on the side of the opposition. He arrived in Chechnya in 1994 as part of a group of people from the Middle East.

According to some reports, Khattab has been participating in various military operations for 17 years, including in Afghanistan on the side of the Mujahideen, in the Persian Gulf countries (presumably in Iraq) and against Israel, he was an instructor in the camps of the Afghan Mujahideen in Pakistan.

Commander of the detachment of foreign mercenaries "Jamaat Islami" in the Chechen Republic. An experienced and well-trained terrorist fighter, owns all types of small arms. He has a reputation as a mine-blasting specialist. He personally trains militants subordinate to him. Khattab can use white Niva, KamAZ, ZIL cars for transportation.

Khattab is very religious, considers Chechnya "the land of Allah" and is ready to fight until "not a single infidel remains" on it. He pretends to be a Pakistani, with others he explains, as a rule, in very bad Russian. He has unquestioned authority among subordinates who unquestioningly carry out any of his orders. Unpretentious. He is revered by militants as a fair and caring commander.

It is distinguished by particular cruelty towards prisoners, including the wounded. When reprisals against those captured, he prefers to use edged weapons. He sneered at the corpses of Russian servicemen, cutting off their ears, noses, and scalping them. All these actions are recorded on video and film in order to demonstrate their practical activities to attract funds from Muslim foreign organizations and funds of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, and Turkey.

Periodically, these videos, having shaved off his beard, under the cover of documents of a journalist from one of the Arab newspapers, he took out abroad (during the trip he had a mustache). He returned from abroad with a large amount of money in foreign currency.

Khattab's appeal to Sheikh Al-Fadel Muhammad Ash-Shikha (Saudi Arabia) was recorded with a request to allocate funds, in particular, for the purchase of ammunition and the arrangement of militant training camps.

The attack on a checkpoint of federal troops near the village of Kharachoy in October 1995, an attack on a convoy of federal troops near the village of Yaryshmardy, the capture of 28 internal troops in the village of Shuani and other major sabotage actions were carried out under the direct supervision of Khattab. In addition, in order to put pressure on Aslan Maskhadov, who went to sign peace with Russia, on his instructions, an explosion was carried out on the way of the column with the CRI delegation.

According to some reports, in the summer of 1996, Khattab was preparing to carry out an extremist action against the head of the Chechen Republic, Doku Zavgaev, a terrorist act was planned, or, if possible, his abduction.

The Khattab detachment, consisting of mercenaries with experience in combat operations in the so-called hot spots, participated in a number of terrorist actions both on the territory of the Chechen Republic and the regions of Russia adjacent to it. A terrorist act against doctors, members of the humanitarian mission of the Red Cross, on December 18, 1996, in the village of Novye Atagi, was committed by militants of Khattab.

The main base of Khattab is located on the territory of a former pioneer camp near the village of Serzhen-Yurt on the left bank of the Khulhulau River, where seven training camps are concentrated. Of these, five are under the general leadership of Khattab, the other two are supervised by Shirvani and Shamil Basayev. The five Khattab camps are located at a short distance from each other and are named after the leaders of these camps:

1. The central camp (aka the headquarters of Khattab), where about 100 foreign mercenaries and a small number of Chechen fighters are concentrated.

2. "Abujafar camp" - training in the methods of guerrilla warfare and the use of all types of small arms.

3. "Yakub-camp" - training in mastering the skills of the art of war, as well as the use of heavy weapons in battle.

4. "Abubakar-camp" - training in carrying out sabotage and terrorist actions in the rear of the "enemy".

5. "Davgat-camp" - psychological and ideological training through a deep study of the Koran, the assimilation of Islamic dogmas.

The educational process is well established, Khattab only inspects it.

Most of the cadets are from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other republics of the former USSR (about 2000 people). About 50-60 foreigners live permanently in the camp, from whom Khattab confiscated their passports and who, even if they wish, cannot go back. These are mercenaries from the countries of the Near and Middle East. In the camp there are constant round-the-clock classes with daily practice shooting. The trainees are well provided with food.

In addition, in the village of Kharachoy, in the school-madrasah created by Khattab, there are 80 people, mostly Avars and Dargins. Arab mercenaries teach at the madrasah, and preference is given to the reactionary Muslim trend of Wahhabism. In addition, physical and military training classes are held with students. The school is funded from Saudi Arabia.

Khattab reportedly planned to move the school to a training center being built in a former holiday home on Lake Kezenoy-Am. The number of students can be increased up to 300 people. An integral part of the training of militants is the so-called "Islamic Institute of the Caucasus", located in Serzhen-Yurt, which is actually a branch of the international extremist organization "Muslim Brotherhood". The main task of this organization is to plant among the peoples of Chechnya and other republics of the North Caucasus the most radical Islamic trend - Wahhabism, as well as to implement the idea of creating a single Islamic state in this region "from the Caspian to the Black Sea."

To achieve their goals, Islamic fundamentalists have developed and are implementing a large-scale program (called the "Islamic Call") to create paramilitary units on the territory of the North Caucasian republics, modeled on the Islamic Taliban movement, which include the so-called "Islamic fighters" who have undergone military and religious training.

The "Caucasus Islamic Institute" also has a military training camp "Sayd Ibn Waqas". Currently, the institute has 40 teachers from among the Arabs and Afghans and 160 students, the training program, which is based on the study of the Arabic language and religious disciplines, is designed for two months. Almost all students, among whom, along with citizens of the republics of the North Caucasus, there are also representatives of Tatarstan, simultaneously undergo military training in the Said Ibn Abu Wakas camp.

Khattab directly obeyed the instructions of Zelemkhan Yandarbiyev, is closely acquainted and regularly in contact with Shamil Basayev, taught the latter the specifics of the war in the mountains, explosives, methods and methods of sabotage and terrorist activities. Basayev is his close friend, so he organized Khattab's marriage to a Chechen woman (from the village of Vedeno), recommended him to the bride's parents.

Born in the city of Arar (Saudi Arabia). According to Newsweek, Khattab is an ethnic Chechen, a representative of the large Jordanian Chechen diaspora. There is also information that he was half Circassian. Akhmat Kadyrov, when he was the head of the administration of the Chechen Republic, pointed out that Khattab allegedly is in fact a Yemenite Jew who named his first daughter Sarah. This statement was made by Kadyrov after a personal trip to Jordan, during which he made an unsuccessful attempt to establish contacts with the Jordanian Chechen diaspora.

In his youth, he was going to get a higher education and become a physicist or mathematician. In 1987, his relatives wanted to send him to study in the United States, but he refused and left home, arguing that he had the right to participate in ghazawat in accordance with Sharia, despite the prohibition of his relatives.

In the same 1987 he went to Afghanistan, where he took an active part in the hostilities against the Soviet troops. He distinguished himself in the battles for Jalalabad and Kabul. He was seriously wounded in the stomach by a 12.7 mm bullet. He lost several fingers on his hand in a grenade explosion.

In 1993, after the Mujahideen coalition came to power in Afghanistan, he returned home, but soon went back to Afghanistan, where, with a group of associates, he trained and armed Islamic opposition from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. He participated in the attack on the 12th outpost of the Moscow border detachment, as a result of which 25 Russian border guards were killed. Contrary to the assertion of some sources, Khattab was not the organizer of this attack, but only led one of the detachments participating in it.

In December 1994, from a CNN report, he learned about the war in Chechnya and already in January 1995, together with 18 like-minded people (including Abu al-Walid and Abu Kuteiba), he arrived in Grozny. He took an active part in the First Chechen War, organized a number of successful operations against Russian troops.

He was an experienced and well-trained terrorist, owned all types of small arms. Understood in mine-subversive business. He personally trained suicide bombers subordinate to him.

He organized foreign financing for the purchase of ammunition and the arrangement of camps for the training of militants in Chechnya.

According to media reports, in the summer of 1996 he was preparing the liquidation or, if possible, the abduction of the pro-Russian head of the Chechen Republic, Doku Zavgaev.

He was closely acquainted and regularly contacted Shamil Basayev, whom he taught the specifics of the war in the mountains, explosives, methods and methods of sabotage and terrorist activities.

In 1995, together with members of his detachment, he created the military-religious training center "Kavkaz" on the outskirts of the village of Serzhen-Yurt (on the territory of a former pioneer camp). In the camp, young people from nearby villages were trained in Islam and various aspects of military affairs. In total, about 10 thousand militants were trained in this training center.

In 1996, he married a Dargin woman from the Kadar zone of Dagestan, Fatima Bidagova.

In 1998, he joined the terrorist organization Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan (KNID) and headed the Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade (an armed formation of the KNID).

In August and September 1999, together with Shamil Basayev, he organized and led raids by Chechen-Dagestan militants on the territory of Dagestan.

He was killed in March 2002 as a result of a secret operation of the Russian special services (Khattab was given a letter, allegedly from his mother, the paper of which was treated with poison).

He was awarded the highest military awards of the CRI: two orders "Kyoman Turpal" (Chech. "Hero of the Nation", the first from Zelimkhan, the second from Shamil), the Order "Defender of the Fatherland" (from Dzhokhar) and the gold medal "Valiant Warrior" (from Aslan) .

The Russian court posthumously recognized Khattab as one of the masterminds behind the terrorist acts in Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk in 1999.

Characteristic

Hero of Russia, Colonel-General Gennady Troshev wrote about this man in his memoirs:

Khattab was called one-armed not by chance. All the fingers of his right hand are missing one or two phalanges. But he also shoots skillfully with his left hand. Love for weapons, apparently, is a family disease. The terrorist's sister, for example, owns a large gun shop in the United States. However, it is unlikely that he will be able to visit his sister Khattab, because Western intelligence agencies have been hunting for him for many years: “Height is 174-176 cm, youthful appearance, swarthy, wears a beard, shoulder-length hair ...” And as soon as Khattab crosses the border, on his hands the handcuffs will immediately snap into place: a train of brutal murders stretches behind the Black Arab.

Khattab just loves, like some of his friends, demonstrative executions, especially of non-Christians. Slowly cut off the prisoners' ears, noses, scalps... And so that everything is recorded on videotape. He then demonstrates these "film documents" to influential foreign Muslim "ultra" in confirmation of his firmness in the course of building a new Wahhabi state - from the Caspian to the Black Seas.

Gennady Troshev. "My war. Chechen diary of a trench general, memoirs, book

Notable terrorist attacks involving Khattab

July 13, 1993 - an attack on the 12th outpost of the Moscow border detachment on the Tajik-Afghan border.

October 1995 - Khattab's detachment attacked a checkpoint of Russian troops near the village of Kharachoy.

April 16, 1996 - Attack on a convoy of Russian troops near the village. Yarysh-mardy.

The capture of 28 soldiers of the internal troops of the Russian Federation in the village. Shuan.

Khattab is credited with a terrorist act against doctors of the Red Cross humanitarian mission on December 17, 1996 in the village of Novye Atagi, when six people were shot by criminals.

December 22, 1997 - Khattab's detachment attacked the 136th motorized rifle brigade in Buynaksk (Dagestan).

August - September 1999 - organization and leadership, together with Shamil Basaev, of incursions of militants into Dagestan with the aim of armed support for local Islamic radicals. During the hostilities in Dagestan, there were explosions of residential buildings in Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk, the customer of which, as the court established, was Khattab.

March 2000 - leadership of the breakthrough of militants from the "cauldron" in the Argun Gorge. One of the heavy battles took place near the village of Ulus-Kert, where the militants were able to break through the encirclement, meeting on the way the 6th company of paratroopers of the Pskov Airborne Division (see Battle at Hill 776). According to federal forces, up to 2,500 militants broke through the combat formations of the 6th company, who eventually lost more than 500 people killed.

Amir ibn al-Khattab(real name - Samer Saleh as-Suwaylem(Arab.); April 14, 1969 - March 20, 2002) - a terrorist, field commander, originally from Saudi Arabia, one of the leaders of the armed formations of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria on the territory of the Russian Federation in 1995-2002, a supporter of the creation of an Islamic state in Chechnya. He preached the ideas of Salafiya and the religious holy war (“ghazavat”), the practical implementation of which he was engaged in before Chechnya, participating in hostilities on the side of the Islamists in Afghanistan (1987-1992) and Tajikistan (1993). He was one of the leaders of the Wahhabi organizations "Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade" and "Supreme Military Majlisul Shura of the United Forces of the Mujahideen of the Caucasus."

Biography

As his real name before his death was called Habib Abd al-Rahman(spelling options - Habib Abdul Rahman, Abd al-Rahman, Habib al-Rahman), after - Samer Saleh as-Suwaylem.

The exact year and place of birth are unknown (according to some reports, they were not known even to himself). The year 1963 is indicated, and, as the most probable, 1969. Born in the city of Arar (Saudi Arabia). According to Newsweek, Khattab is an ethnic Chechen, a representative of the large Jordanian Chechen diaspora. There is also information that he was half Circassian, other sources refute it: “According to a number of testimonies, Khattab has Jordanian citizenship. Rumors about his Chechen origin and alleged service in the "Circassian Guard" - the personal guard of the King of Jordan, consisting of Chechens and Kabardians, do not correspond to reality. Akhmat Kadyrov, when he was the head of the administration of the Chechen Republic, pointed out that Khattab allegedly was in fact a Yemenite Jew who named his first daughter Sarah. (This statement was made by Kadyrov after a personal trip to Jordan, during which he made an unsuccessful attempt to establish contacts with the Jordanian Chechen diaspora.) Referring now to the FSB, then to the GRU, then even to the CIA, he was called either a Jordanian Chechen, or an Arab - when Jordanian, when Saudi, occasionally Yemeni, or even completely enrolled as Pakistanis. Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev stated that Khattab is a Saudi by nationality, "although for some reason he is called either a Jordanian Chechen, or someone else ...". (According to General Troshev's book, Khattab was born into a "rich Jordanian family of Chechen origin.") The fact that Khattab was from Saudi Arabia was also testified by the American Mujahid Aukei Collins, who fought under him. In 2001, the Jordanian ambassador to Moscow, Ahmed Ali Mubaydin, stated that Khattab had never been a citizen of Jordan and was not a Jordanian: "I was never a Jordanian, neither by nationality nor by origin."

It is said that his father was the elder of a nomadic Bedouin tribe, whose nomadic territory is located on the border of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, in the sands of the ash-Shamakh desert. The same source notes the wealth of his Bedouin family and the fact that Khattab, "apparently, by nature was endowed with a good mind and creative imagination."

In 1987, relatives sent him to study in the USA, in New York. Reliable information about his life in the United States is not available to the general public, the sources that exist are very contradictory: according to one information, he applied to one of the American colleges, was accepted, but did not start classes, some sources indicate that he still studied until the end of 1987, but it is not clear whether he was already in college or somewhere else. He did not want to return home, citing the right to participate in the ghazawat in accordance with Sharia, despite the prohibition of relatives.

In the early 90s, the Azerbaijani government turned to the Afghan Mujahideen with a request for help - the troops were defeated in battles with Armenian formations in Nagorno-Karabakh. One of those who responded to the call was Khattab.

Amir ibn al-Khattab

A professional terrorist, one of the leaders of the armed formations of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria on the territory of the Russian Federation in 1995-2000.

Biography

He was born on April 1, 1969 in the city of Arar (Saudi Arabia). According to Newsweek, Khattab is an ethnic Chechen, a representative of the large Jordanian Chechen diaspora. There is also information that he was half Circassian. Akhmat Kadyrov, when he was the head of the administration of the Chechen Republic, pointed out that Khattab allegedly is in fact a Yemenite Jew who named his first daughter Sarah. This statement was made by Kadyrov after a personal trip to Jordan, during which he made an unsuccessful attempt to establish contacts with the Jordanian Chechen diaspora.

Education

military activity

He was an experienced and well-trained terrorist, owned all types of small arms. Understood in mine-subversive business. He personally trained suicide bombers subordinate to him.

According to media reports, in the summer of 1996 he was preparing the liquidation or, if possible, the abduction of the pro-Russian head of the Chechen Republic, Doku Zavgaev.

Family

In 1996, he married Fatima Bidagova, a Dargin woman from the Kadar zone.

Compromising evidence

He was closely acquainted and regularly in contact with Shamil Basayev, whom he taught the specifics of the war in the mountains, explosives, methods and methods of sabotage and terrorist activities.

In 1998, he joined the terrorist organization Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and (KNID) and headed the Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade (an armed formation of the KNID).

In August and September 1999, together with Shamil Basayev, he organized and led raids of Chechen-Dagestan militants on the territory.

He was killed in March 2002 as a result of a secret operation of the Russian special services (Khattab was given a letter, allegedly from his mother, the paper of which was treated with poison).

In order to adequately respond to the enemy, you need to know him as fully as possible, in detail and multifaceted. In combat conditions, the possession of the necessary information is not yet a guarantee of victory, but already the key to it.

Man without a past

In 2002, the earthly journey of one of the most dangerous Chechen terrorists, hiding under the name Khattab. What was the name of this person in fact - it is not known exactly. May be, Habib Abd al-Rahman, maybe, Samer Saleh as-Suwaylem or somehow else - it is not known for sure to this day. He is believed to be from Saudi Arabia, but possibly from Jordan, Pakistan or even Yemen. He probably went to college in the US. In any case, he was well educated, knew at least three foreign languages, including Russian. He had serious knowledge in military affairs. His biography is so confused and surrounded by myths that Scheherazade could well tell stories about his adventures for another thousand and one nights. Especially those that were before the arrival of Khattab in Chechnya in 1995.

It would be a mistake to present Khattab as a banal adventurer. This man learned the covenant very well Winston Churchill: "Truth is so precious that it must be guarded by bodyguards of lies." Anyone who is hiding from the authorities knows that any person is easiest to find through his contacts. The past follows a person like a tail, and it can be caught by this tail. But what about a person who has no past? For special services, he is a mystery, a myth, a ghost.

Khattab was extremely cautious. He had an excellent flair and an extensive network of informers, including those in power and law enforcement agencies. The brief and capacious manual on guerrilla warfare written by him for the Mujahideen shows a high professional in his field. He was an ideological enemy of Russia, fought with the Shuravi back in Afghanistan, was a fanatical Islamist radical who sees the meaning of life in a holy war. If this knowledgeable and talented commander were on our side, he probably would have become a hero, but Khattab was an enemy, dangerous, bloodthirsty and merciless. And besides, through the "Black Arab", as they called him in Chechnya, there was a financial flow from Saudi Arabia - dollar fuel for the war in the Caucasus. Khattab had to be found and destroyed. Through thick and thin. Wherever he is.

Information about the death of Khattab appeared in the media at least ten times. Repeatedly, when the "emir of terrorists" needed to rest, he effectively "died" in order to resurrect no less effectively after a while. The invulnerability of the dodgy terrorist got on the nerves of the entire personnel of the Russian troops of the North Caucasus Military District. He seemed to sneer at the attempts of the army and special services to catch or destroy him.

Carrier pigeons of the Chechen kite

Surrounded by bodyguards, out of control of anyone in Chechnya, Khattab remained a very difficult target. Taught by experience Dzhokhar Dudayev, tracked by a mobile phone signal, he did not use this connection. All orders were given to them through trusted people, all communication with foreign sponsors was a baton. Packages with correspondence were delivered from one base to another. Not a single “postman” knew anyone except those with whom he had to communicate directly, but he himself was under the covert supervision of an insurer, who was supposed to let you know if something happened to the messenger. At the same time, each of the participants in this “postal” network tried not to attract the attention of local authorities in any way. The messenger could even cooperate with the Russian command and ensure peace in a particular village - the main thing is that he should be able to quickly and without interference deliver the package at the right time to the right place.

In addition, several different “fake letters” were simultaneously sent from the foreign center, which went through spare chains, but did not reach the “addressee”. A trusted breaker agent would receive them, examine them for screening, and destroy them. With this, enemy intelligence sprayed the attention of counterintelligence officers, and at the same time checked the reliability of their postal "path".

Alas, any system based on the actions of living people is unreliable. At some point, when a high reward was placed on the head of the "Brigadier General of Ichkeria", a man was found in the chain who agreed to help in the elimination of Khattab. Some believe that there was a purely financial motivation here, but do not forget that Khattab was a manic killer fanatic, and many people even in his environment had very serious personal claims against the Black Arab.

Be that as it may, they managed to find a weak link in the chain - and even ensure that it becomes the final one in front of the "amir" hiding in the mountains. When the instructions from Saudi Arabia arrived, the agent gave the signal that Moscow had long been waiting for. A unique specialist in poisons was brought to Grozny by a special aircraft. He was given only one night to work - in the morning a messenger was supposed to come from the mountains for a package. The task assigned by the administration to the “special purpose” chemist was completely non-trivial. The envelope had to be treated with a potent contact poison in such a way that it would work in two or three days (the agent and his family should have remained beyond suspicion), leave no marks on the paper, and not be felt by a delicate canine scent. Cautious Khattab, fearing poisoning, whenever possible let the dog sniff the letter. As subsequent events showed, the work was done perfectly.

Amir from Iblis

The package did not arouse suspicion, was delivered to the addressee, read and burned. Further, as always in such cases, Khattab began to quickly change the location of his camp. The old axiom of a saboteur says: "Stopping is death!". But this time it was not destined to overtake the eyeless "Black Arab".

The operatives are lucky. Leaving the parking lot, the bodyguards of the “brigadier general” stumbled upon early spring morels. With food, the group was tense, and therefore the mushrooms were immediately put into action. So, when the poison began to act, the followers of Khattab decided that among the morels they missed a toadstool. Three days later, on March 20, 2002, the "Black Arab" died in agony.

His bodyguards would still believe in the "mushroom" version, if the rest, all those who at least briefly held the envelope in their hands, did not follow the "amir" in the coming days. The dose of poison they received was much less, but nonetheless absolutely lethal. In total, five people died.

Among them was one who agreed to help destroy the Saudi ghoul. In order to achieve the goal, like a real warrior, he sacrificed his life.

Life in Chechnya began to improve.